Google’s ecosystem is the world’s largest online advertising vehicle. It took down 1.7 billion advertisements in the past year – a mere drop in the bucket.
Scott Spencer, Google’s director of Product Management, Sustainable Ads, said in a blog post that, “A free and open Web is a vital resource for people and businesses around the world. And ads play a key role in ensuring you have access to accurate, quality information online.
“But bad ads can ruin the online experience for everyone. They promote illegal products and unrealistic offers. They can trick people into sharing personal information and infect devices with harmful software. Ultimately, bad ads pose a threat to users, Google’s partners, and the sustainability of the open web itself.”
Google has published a set of policies that prohibit counterfeit products, dangerous products, dishonest behaviour, inappropriate content, misrepresentation and more – it is constantly updating them to include things like payday loans. Nefarious types work around them so takedowns are frequent.
{loadposition ray}
Illegal products like pharmaceuticals accounted for 68 million, gambling 17 million, deceptive or misleading 80 million, and self-clicking advertisements 23,000.
Google also paid attention to fake news or as it calls it “tabloid cloaking” where ads can look like headlines on a news website. But when people click on that story they go to a site selling weight-loss products. More than 1300 accounts were suspended. There are also those that crosslink to “bad” sites.
Comment
Thank goodness for ad blockers – however media and journalists have to get paid somehow so that is not really a politically correct statement.
Fake news is becoming a major issue – not just “real” fake news that pedals points of view or opinions with no regard to the truth but fake news in the form of reviews and recommendations.
As iTWire’s Consumer News and Reviews Editor it is part of my job to review IT product. The review is without fear or favour, backed by a strict policy that equipment suppliers see up front.
After I complete a review I often check on international reviews and the results range from spot on to amazingly bad. Let’s exclude the likes of mainstream IT media as these are generally fair. But it is the rest that often makes me wonder if they have even seen the product, let alone put it through its paces for a suitable period.
Last year I was taking to a well-known PR firm about bloggers. The not-so-surprising news was that many PR people and vendors pay for bloggers to review or write about a product or services – euphemistically called “advertorial” but somehow that tag gets lost. The amounts ranged from $200 for a “mention” to $2000 for a faux review. Do a search on “bloggers paid per post” and you will see what I mean. Let’s not even include the millions of Facebook fonies, Instagram insinuators, twaddling Tweeters – all of this is a symptom of cash for comment.
Edelman PR (one of the better global PR outfits) publishes an annual trust barometer and it says trust is in crisis around the world. The general population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media (down a staggering 43% Y-o-Y) — has declined broadly, a phenomenon not reported since Edelman began tracking trust among this segment in 2012.
It says that only 15% of respondents believe the current system of trust is working.
Founder Richard Edelman, said, “The cycle of distrust is magnified by the emergence of a media echo chamber that reinforces personal beliefs while shutting out opposing points of view. People now view media as part of the elite. The result is a proclivity for self-referential media and reliance on peers. The lack of trust in media has also given rise to the fake news phenomenon and politicians speaking directly to the masses. Media outlets must take a more local and social approach.”